Crate for loading and unloading brick and like materials



May 29, 1923.

' H. G. FERGUS cans FOR LOADING AND UNLO'ADING BRICK AND LIKE MATERIALS Filed Feb. 27. 1920 f'wenzfo}? zg g r Patented May 29, 1923.

UNITED" HOLLISTER s. FERGUS, or cn'rcaso, r Lmors,

CRATE FOR LOADING AND UNLOALDING BRICK A NID LIK-E MATEBIALSQ Application filed. February 27, 1920. Serial No. 361,796.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, -HOLLISTER Gr. FEReUs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Crates for Loading and Unloading Brick and. like Materials, of

which the following is a specification.

. This invention relates to devicesfor facilitating the loading and unloading of bricks and like materials, inunits or quantities of considerable size, and among theleading ob- I jects ofthe invention are, to provide an im proved device in the natureof a crate by which a quantity of bricks may be unloaded from or loadedonto a railway car, motor truck or other transportation device without necessitating as much manual handling of thefbricks as in the ordinary method, to

provide adevice by which the load of bricks may-be deposited en masse in neatly piled form, to provide an improved crate by which the operations of loading and unloading may be more expeditiously performed than bydevices heretofore known, and, generally,

to provide an improved and simplified loading and unloading'crate of the 5 character specified. p g

Tothese ends the invention consists in a loading and unloading crate for bricks and like materials having 'the novel structural characteristics and mode of use hereinafter more particularly described and: definitely pointed out in the claims. a

In order that the invention may-be clearly understood by those skilled in the art, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawing one simple and practical embodiment thereof, a

--and referring thereto I F ig. 1 is an end: elevation of my improved crate I y Fig. 2 is a side elevation',partly broken out, and in vertical section; and,

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section taken'on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

' Referring to the drawing, my improved crate comprises essentially a. rectangular box-like structure comprising vertical side walls 5 and end walls 6 preferably made. of

boiler plate and rigidly united at the corners by upright angle irons 7 and rivets 8. By reference to Fig. 2 it will be observed that the vertical end walls 6 extend down wardly some distance below the lower edges of the vertical side walls 5, these extensions of the end walls 6 being designated by 6'.

To the outer sides of the extensions 6 are .11 designates each of a pair of stout round rods, the ends of which are journaled inthe holes 10 of the angle iron ends 9,, .and are provided with cotter-pins 12 to confine them 1 in place. The rods llthus lie outside of the interior space ofthe box or'crate andare located a slight distance below. the lower edges of the side walls -5..

13 designates a flat bottom'plate Which,as clearly shown in Fig. 8, rests upon the rods 11, and maybe inserted in and removed I from operative position by simply sliding the same edgewise between the rods lland the lower edges of the side walls 5. To one edge of the bottom plate 11 is secureda ring 114: constituting ameans for attachingthe grab" hookof a lifting crane when. the bottom plate is to be withdrawn. This ring 14 p also forms a stop to prevent the bottom a plate from being entered too far."

Centrally of the upper ends of, the end walls 6 are holes15 for the insertion of grab hooksofgthe crane.

In the use of the dBVlCGyWhGILbl'IG crate is'to be loaded, the bottom plate 13 is'first inserted in place ,'resting upon the-rods11, as shown in Fig; 3, and the-crate is then filled with :bricks which may be piled upon each other in regular longitudinaland trans- I.

-' verse rows until the box is completely filled.

The grab hooks of a liftingcrane. such'as is i commonly carried on fiat cars .and motor: trucks are theninserted through the holes 15, and theloaded crate is raised and deposited at the place where the load of bricks is to" be disposed. If the bricks are being unloadedfrom a flat car or motortruck, the

crate will be filled on the latter and then bodily transferred by the raisingand lowering crane in the manner above described onto the ground. If the bricks are being loaded,

the crate is filled on the ground and then hoisted onto the flat car or truck. In either event, as soon as the loaded crate has been deposited at the'spotwhere the bricks are to be unloaded, one of the grab hooks of the crane is then entered through the ring;

14 of the removable bottom plate 13, and the latter is drawn out. As this is done, the pile of bricks within the crate simply drops down a few inches on to the floor or ground, but without disturbing the piled order and form of the bricks, and the grab hooks are then reapplied to the holes 15 and the crate is raised and skinned off the pile of bricks, leaving the latter standing in neatly piled order. Various complicated devices for transferring bricks in loading and unloading operations in the general manner above described have heretofore been proposed, but, so far as I am aware, my present invention embodies a feature of distinct novelty in the use of a bot-tom plate to support the load in the box or crate. which bottom plate is itself supported wholly upon sup ports located externally of the containing Walls of the crate and can be inserted and removed by an edgewise movement. It will be apparent that in a device functioning in the manner hereinal'iove described, it is essential that the supports for the removable bottom plate shall be located outside the interior space of the crate, since otherwise they would interfere with the dropping of the load on to the ground in undisturbed order when the bottom plate is withdrawn.

By employing round rods iournaled at their ends in the ends of the angle iron strips 9 so as to be rotatable, said rods also act to reduce the friction when the bottom plate is inserted and withdrawn. Moreover, in the arrangement shown, the gravity effect of the load acts wholly through the two end walls of the crate to which the grab-hooks of the lifting crane are attached, thus obviating any bending-strain on the longer side walls of the crate.

It will be manifest to those skilled in the art that variations and modifications in respect of minor details may be made without involving any departure from the principle of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof. Hence, I reserve all such variations and modifications as fall within the purview and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A. transfer crate of the character described, comprising a rectangular box having vertical side and end walls, a removable edges of the other pair, metal strips secured to and projecting beyond the vertical edges of the extensions of said walls, a pair of rods supported at their ends on the projecting portions of said strips and lying parallel with and below the lower edges of the other pair of walls and outside the space bounded by said side and end walls, and a flat bottom plate movable edgewise to and from a position of rest on said rods.

A transfer crate of the character described, comprising a rectangular box having vertical side and end walls and angleiron corner members riveted to and uniting said walls, and edgewise removable bottom plate, and a pair of supporting rods for said bottom plate disposed parallel with and below the lower edges of one opposed-pair of said walls and externally of the space bounded by said side and end walls.

4. A transfer crate of the character described, comprising a rectangular box'having vertical side walls and vertical end walls extending below the lower edges of said'side walls, angle-iron strips riveted to the extensions of said end walls, a pair of rods disposed parallel with and below the lower edges of said side walls on the outer sides of the latter and at their ends journaled in said angle-iron straps, and a fiat bottom plate movable edge-wise to and from aposition of rest on said rods. 7

5. A transfer crate of the character described, comprising a rectangular box having vertical walls, a pair of rods disposed parallel with and below the lower edges of one opposed pair of said walls on the outer sides of the latter, a flat bottom plate movable edgewise toand from a position of rest on said rods, and means on said bottom plate and on an opposed pair of said walls for the attachment of grab hooks.

HOLLISTER G. FERGUS. 

